


Snowball Smooches

by doridoripawaa



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Snow Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2020-09-07 01:41:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20301349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doridoripawaa/pseuds/doridoripawaa
Summary: Byleth just cannot get accustomed to the cold Faerghus winters.





	Snowball Smooches

The winters in Fhirdiad were just unbearably cold.

The festivities of the Ethereal Moon -- particularly her husband's day of birth -- had kept Byleth so occupied and excited that she hardly had time to acknowledge the weather. Now that the new year had begun and the merry-making had wound down, Byleth no longer had that excess energy flowing through her body and keeping her blood pumping with extra fervor. Now, at the beginning of the Guardian Moon, she was painfully aware of how cold the winter could be.

Byleth's best solution for this weather was to curl up with a cup of hot tea and a blanket, but as the king's wife and as the archbishop, staying still was rarely possible. She did not regret leaving the monastery in Seteth's capable hands as she journeyed to Faerghus's capital to spend the new year with her husband, but Garreg Mach was not nearly as frigid as Fhirdiad. Sitting in front of the fireplace, Byleth was grateful for this moment of solitude and warmth, but she knew that duty would call her to the throne room or out into local villages soon enough.

"My beloved? Are you in here?"

A familiar voice at the entryway to the den confirmed Byleth's suspicions. She tilted her head back until a shaggy head of blonde hair and a beautiful eye the color of the summer sky came into view. "Hello, Dimitri."

"Great goddess, are you all right? Your lips are practically blue." Hastily the king moved to his wife's side, and he wrapped his body around hers, which was still swathed in a heavy quilt. "I take it that you and Jeralt never spent too many winters in Faerghus before you began your life at the monastery?"

"Why would we?" Byleth asked with a slightly teasing tone in her voice. "If we could choose where to live as mercenaries, why would we take jobs in the frozen tundra?" Clearly her attempt at a joke had gone too far, because Dimitri's sky blue eye clouded over with regret and sorrow. Humor had never been her strong suit. "I don't mind being here now," she added quickly. "Especially with you."

Dimitri shifted his position to tenderly sit down beside her, and he wrapped his large hands around her small ones, which were tightly gripping her teacup. "Your hands are usually so warm," he murmured. "Hm... I really do enjoy the Guardian Moon, you know." He gazed up at the ceiling, deep in thought. "When the snow is no longer falling but just lying in pillowy sheets on the ground, and the sun is shining brightly in the sky to provide a hint of light and warmth..." He glanced over at Byleth to ensure he was not boring her. On the contrary, she was staring up at him with her glittering green gaze, captivated by his imagery. "There are many fun activities to enjoy in the snow. I would often play with Ingrid, Sylvain, and Felix as children," he said, chuckling softly. "Felix refused to ever be on my team when we engaged in snowball fights, much to Sylvain's chagrin, because he always wanted to side with Ingrid."

Dimitri seemed to be staring off into the distance now, probably lost in faraway memories. Byleth also became lost for a moment as old scenes flickered inside her mind.

_"Team up with the boar? Well, I don't like the sound of it, but we should win." Felix let out a resigned sigh as the house leaders announced their intentions to have an interclass snowball fight on their next free day. _

_"Annette, Mercedes, Ingrid, I'll be sure to protect you," Sylvain declared proudly, puffing out his chest. Annette and Mercedes whispered to each other, only to burst out laughing as Ingrid preemptively smacked him with a snowball of her own and loudly announced that she was a knight who did not need "protecting."_

_Meanwhile, Byleth heard laughter that could only be described as "mischievous" coming from the leader of the Golden Deer, while a squeal of terror erupted from a lavender-haired girl in the Black Eagles who was already trying to escape to her room. This snowball fight would definitely be... interesting._

"As a matter of fact," Dimitri began, snapping Byleth out of her trip down memory lane, "the sun seems to be shining right now." He gestured towards the window, which revealed a pale white sky. No snow was falling, and the sun was definitely trying to poke through the wispy clouds. "Shall we have some fun, my beloved?" He carefully pried one of her hands from her cup and squeezed it gently within his own. "Let me show you how much fun a Fhirdiad winter can be."

* * *

"Are you sure this is safe?" Byleth muttered as she wrapped her arms tightly around Dimitri's waist.

"Would I ever do anything dangerous?"

Byleth raised her eyebrow at Dimitri. He blushed as he realized the foolishness of what he had just said. "Would I ever subject you to anything dangerous?" Byleth relaxed a little, but she still kept her hands firmly clamped around her husband's broad body. Despite the scarf around her mouth and nose and the hat that covered her ears, she still felt the stinging cold wind tackling her skin, so she buried her face into Dimitri's neck. The stray strands of hair provided her with some extra protection, as did the scruff of fur on the rim of his cape.

"You have to take a peek!" Dimitri laughed as he shuffled away from the burrowing Byleth. Before the green-haired woman could protest, Dimitri propelled the pair of them down the hill on their sled.

Wind whipped her exposed cheeks like Sagittae and she almost dove back into Dimitri's neck but somehow... she was enjoying the ride. The sight of sparkling white flashing past her eyes was truly beautiful, and when they reached the bottom of the hill, she was even laughing.

Dimitri's cheeks, flushed pink from the weather, seemed to grow even redder and warmer at the sound of his wife's laughter. However, his brief moment of peace was cut off as something cold, hard, and damp smacked him in the back of his head.

"Never let your guard down, Your Highness," Byleth scolded lightly. She folded her arms over her shivering chest, closed her eyes, and shook her head. "That's payback for pushing us down the hill before I was re-"

She coughed and spluttered as Dimitri returned her favor with a mouthful of snow. "You were saying, Your Grace?"

Byleth dodged his second snowball nimbly and jumped behind a tree, where she had a moment to craft two of her own. "You call that a snowball?" she scoffed. "Allow me to demonstrate!"

"Saw that coming!" Dimitri chided as he side-stepped his wife's snowball. "Time for the student to become the teacher!"

_"It looks like the student has become the teacher!" Claude announced with a hearty laugh as his snowball smacked Byleth in the shoulder._

_"I will avenge you!" Dimitri cried as he took two snowballs from Dedue, who held an entire artillery in his bulky arms. "Rest assured, Professor! We will triumph!"_

_"I never wished to cross you, but you leave me no choice!" Edelgard and Hubert hurled snowballs in synchronization, one at the Blue Lions' leader and one at the Golden Deer's leader._

* * *

Dimitri and Byleth finally allowed themselves to sink into the snow, panting heavily.

Dimitri shuffled sideways, creating a path in the snow, until he was at his wife's side. "Warm now?" 

"D-don't come any c-closer!" Byleth wheezed. "I want to make a snow angel!"

_"Let's make snow angels, Annie!" Mercedes gasped out after their snowball fight. All of the students were lying around on the ground, laughing and groaning alike as they celebrated their victory or languished in their defeat._

_"You're already an angel, Mercie!" Annette teased, but the two of them still flapped their arms and legs to make the images in the snow._

_"I second that!" Sylvain called, hopping up and shuffling over to join the girls._

_"Nobody asked you!" Ingrid snapped, but she was smiling too. Soon the whole class was making snow-Mercies._

"You're already an angel, Your Grace," Dimitri whispered into her ear. Byleth's eyes widened in shock. Clearly, he remembered that day as vividly as she did. Was it as painful for him to think of those peaceful school days now as it was for her?

_How did they fall from joyful cries and silly snow tactics to hateful screeches and dying cries? How did they go from collapsing in the snow with giggles to collapsing in pools of blood?_

Dimitri claimed to have put his obsession with revenge and his lost loved ones behind him. He seemed to be telling the truth about that, because instead of commenting on that day from long ago, he kissed his wife's cheek. "Oh, you're still cold."

"Snow angels will warm me up," Byleth insisted, but as she began to flap her arms and legs, her husband suddenly leaped up on top of her. His limbs pinned hers down, and he leaned in to peck her on the forehead.

"This will warm you up too," he murmured, and his breath was hot against her chilly cheeks. He planted warm kisses all around her face, from head to chin, and finally resting upon her lips.

"Are you actually a lion?" Byleth teased after he pulled away, and she lifted her head to rub her nose against his. 

"I am a beast; that much is true," Dimitri conceded, and a tinge of regret laced his voice. "But my beloved, this beast now wishes for peace... and to set out on a new path with you."

Maybe snow days in Fhirdiad weren't so bad, after all.


End file.
